Ecobiz.asia — State-owned electricity company PT PLN (Persero) has recorded potential electricity demand from Indonesia’s growing data center industry of around 13 GW, reflecting soaring power requirements amid the expansion of data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) development.
Fauzi Arubusman Vice President of Customer Acquisition and Enterprise Services, PT PLN (Persero) said around 3,534.8 MW of the total potential demand has been classified as Priority 1 and is ready to be served by PLN. Meanwhile, applications under Priority 2, which are still being processed, amount to around 9,460.8 MW. PLN projected the data center capacity to reach 15,944 MVA in contracted capacity by 2028.
“Demand is no longer in orders of 100-200 MW. They are already ordering 1 GW, 2 GW, and 3 GW,” Fauzi said at the 12th Indonesia EBTKE ConEx 2026 event on Thursday (Sept. 3).
According to Fauzi, the surge in demand reflects the changing scale of electricity requirements from the data center industry. The large-scale demand also requires PLN to prepare high-capacity electricity infrastructure, including 500-kV transmission networks to serve data centers with power requirements of up to 1 GW or more.
“For 1 GW, we have to support it with at least 500 kV. Investment in 500 kV infrastructure is certainly not small,” he said.
Fauzi said PLN typically requires around three to five years to build a 500-kV transmission network. However, international data center investors generally require a much shorter timeframe to meet their project development and operational targets.
“Data center players can do it in two years. For PLN, building 500 kV normally takes at least three to five years. But data centers are asking for two years,” he said.
To accelerate infrastructure development, PLN is opening opportunities for cooperation with data center investors that have the capability to build transmission infrastructure on a faster timeline.
“If the international data center players are capable of building it quickly, we can work together,” Fauzi said.
He stressed that PLN is committed to supporting the electricity requirements of the data center industry, including through the development of transmission infrastructure and the provision of green power.
Green Super Grid
On the generation side, PLN is also preparing to develop a green enabling super grid to connect renewable energy potential with major electricity load centers.
Fauzi said PLN’s 2025-2034 Electricity Supply Business Plan (RUPTL) is the company’s greenest-ever power development plan. However, renewable energy potential and electricity demand centers, including data centers, are not necessarily located in the same areas.
“Green potential in Sumatra, green potential in Kalimantan, and green potential in Java can later be transferred to the major islands that have potential for data center development,” he said. To connect the various energy sources and load centers, PLN needs to build around 13,889 circuit kilometers of transmission lines. The company also supports the government’s efforts to ensure that data center development is not concentrated solely on Java, but can expand to Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Currently, around 99% of approximately 159 data centers are located in the Jakarta area. One of the considerations for international data center investors in selecting a location is access to an international airport, with an informal requirement of around two hours’ travel time. In this context, Fauzi cited Kertajati International Airport in West Java as one potential location to support data center development outside Jakarta.
Two Green Power Schemes
To meet data centers’ demand for green electricity, PLN offers two schemes: Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and a dedicated source scheme. Under the dedicated source scheme, customers can work with PLN to develop renewable power plants specifically to support their electricity requirements. According to Fauzi, several global technology companies are beginning to favor this approach rather than relying solely on purchasing renewable energy certificates. “Major players such as Microsoft and Amazon are no longer just buying certificates. They are saying, ‘This power plant is mine. Let’s build it together,’” he said.
PLN, he added, has already worked with several data center players to develop power generation projects, including Microsoft, which has several projects being developed jointly with PLN from the planning stage through to operation. For the REC scheme, PLN has prepared around 10,000 GWh to meet the requirements of customers, including data centers, seeking renewable-based electricity. ***
